Chapter 5: Southern Sojourn

Monsoon rains lashed the island of Artidax, echoing through the volcanic caves. Brutaka paid the noise little heed - until he heard a cacophony of insects buzzing furiously. They were xenophobic creatures, who ripped apart anything foreign to them, and they had detected an intruder.

That will be Axonn, thought Brutaka - or was it the Makuta essence? He hovered eagerly across a wooden bridge, over the crushed remains of dozens of insect Rahi. He emerged into the rain-soaked plain to look for his rescuer.

He didn’t have to look far. Towering above Brutaka was a Tahtorak, scratching at insect bites all over its hide. Glancing down, he could see the rest of its herd climbing out of the sea onto Artidax’s shores.

Not Axonn, then, Brutaka thought. But even better - these Rahi walk between islands. They will carry us from this land.

Some part of him twinged with dull disappointment. Should we not stay?

We will not find better transport than this, he thought to himself. Axonn can wait. The destiny of the Makuta must be corrected.

No! a voice howled in his mind, but he paid it no heed.

Brutaka hovered towards the Tahtorak. “We bid you halt, Rahi. You will be our steed,” he announced, calling on the power of Rahi control.

He paused. The Tahtorak was staring at him with a strange look of familiarity. In the next moment, a massive emerald claw slammed into him, knocking him across half the island. Brutaka hit the side of the volcano and lay there for some time, the world swimming in front of him. The Tahtorak roared.

From deep within his merged consciousness, memories of Brutaka’s past life surfaced. Of course. We once stole a Tahtorak from this herd and deposited it in the middle of Onu-Metru… during the Archives Massacre, he recalled. As a joke.

The Tahtorak reared up and unleashed a bellowing cry that shook the volcano. On the black sands below, the rest of its herd looked up and narrowed their eyes. Brutaka watched the herd of Tahtorak barreling up the mountain and spoke aloud:

“Oh no.”

It is said that a Tahtorak never forgets… and a Tahtorak never forgives.

✴        ✴        ✴

The roar of the Protodermis Falls hid the sound of Macku’s footsteps. Gingerly, she peeked around the corner of a Ga-Metru laboratory. The street was deserted, save for two Exo-Toa at the far end. Quickly, the small Ga-Matoran scurried across the street and into the shadows of an alleyway. Left, right, no one there. A Rahkshi swooped low on its patrol route, but Macku had already hidden herself among crates of test tubes. As it soared away, she hurried from the alleyway, past a half-finished fountain to Makuta, and dove into the pools of the Protodermis Falls.

The water was cold, but soothing. She kept an eye out for Rahi as she swam, but saw none, dangerous or not. Apparently, the Rahkshi had frightened them away… or worse. She worried about the fate of the dermis turtles, then pushed the thought from her mind. Holding her breath, she passed under the spray of the Protodermis Falls, and into a small, hollowed-out cave. She broke the surface and climbed into the dry cavern inside. “You called?”

“Macku!” cried Hewkii, nearly crushing her in his mighty grip. “They haven’t hurt you, have they?”

“No, I’m fine,” said Macku. Her laughter died away when she saw the scratches on his armor. “Hewkii, who did this to you?”

“Rahkshi,” Hewkii spat. “Led by one of the Piraka’s friends. One of these days, I’d like to meet a Skakdi who doesn’t try to kill me.” He sighed, and set Macku down on the rocks next to him. “That’s why I called you here,” he explained. “Macku, the Toa Mahri have to leave Metru Nui.”

He saw the look on Macku’s face, and spoke quickly, while he still could. “We’re putting you in danger. Makuta has his agents out to find us, and they’ll hurt or kill any Matoran who tries to shelter us. I know what you’re going to say, but I can’t stay here. I won’t risk your life, too.”

“I could come with you,” Macku hoped. “I can take care of myself… I can help you on your mission! You know I could do it!”

“That’s why you have to stay,” he said. “Once we leave, the Matoran will have no Toa to protect them. You have to take up that duty. You’re smart, you’re strong… You can keep this city safe. Better than we can, anymore.”

Macku choked back tears. “I… I will.”

“Be strong, Macku,” he said, and hoped he would be, too. “You’ll be with me, wherever I go.”

Macku gave him one last hug. “Stay safe,” she said. “And d-don’t do anything s-stupid, okay?”

“I’ll leave that to Nuparu,” he said, but neither of them laughed.

Hewkii and Macku stayed for a long time. Macku stared at the gently lapping waters, watching the ripple of their reflections. But by the end of the night, only her own mask stared back at her.

✴        ✴        ✴

“Did I mishear you?” said the chieftain, clutching the ship’s wheel. “You want us to sail towards the herd of angry Tahtorak?”

Axonn nodded, watching the island of Artidax shake and rumble with the roars of Tahtorak. “There’s no doubt about it. Brutaka’s there.”

On the other side of the volcano, Brutaka swept his blade across one Tahtorak’s leg, then darted out of the path of another. A shadow passed over him, and he raised his blade just in time to block the two front claws of another Tahtorak. Fractures began to spread in the glassy rock beneath his feet.

A roar echoed across the island, and Brutaka sighed in weariness. Were there even more? He’d been lucky to bring down two or three of the Tahtorak, and the remaining ones had boxed him in against a volcanic wall. His quick healing power had allowed him to withstand a pummeling that could have leveled mountains, but he was still taking hits faster than he could repair his body.

It took Brutaka a few seconds to realize what he was hearing was not a Tahtorak. It was the bellow of an ancient war cry, not heard in the southern islands for many long eons… but quite familiar to Brutaka. And it was getting closer.

The Tahtorak gripping Brutaka’s blade pushed harder, and might have crushed him - if not for a sudden lightning strike, which lanced through its scales and shattered the rock beneath it. The Tahtorak staggered back and howled as Brutaka repositioned and glanced up. A red and silver titan was barreling down the volcano’s slope, wielding a giant axe with just one arm. He leapt off a small incline, hurtling through the rain, and brought it down on a Tahtorak’s head with a crack of thunder.

As the Tahtorak turned to face the newcomer, Brutaka seized the moment to blast the nearest one back and reposition. The axe-wielding warrior landed next to him. “Brutaka!” he cried, and glanced around at the Tahtorak. “I told you that Archives prank was in poor taste.”

“Axonn,” said Brutaka, with a stiff, formal smile. “We are glad to see you.”

“I’m glad to see you, too,” said Axonn, looking for any sign of his old friend in the glowing warrior before him. “You never were any good at hiding from me, you dumb brute.”

Brutaka’s smile tugged at its ends. “We recall the ‘dumb brute’ is usually your role, Axonn.” In the next moment, his smile vanished, and his countenance was grim. “We must return to show Teridax his true destiny, but this island blocks our power. We must be gone.”

“We’ll go together,” said Axonn. “Don’t forget, you had another ‘us’ before this destiny quest of yours.”

Brutaka nodded. “Together.”

The Tahtorak roared and regrouped. With a grin, Axonn and Brutaka stood back to back, and prepared to fight.

✴        ✴        ✴

Far to the south of Artidax, shrouded in fog and mist, a single skiff stood on the icy banks of a long, thin coastline. Tracks in the ice led to a solitary Toa Nuva standing before a yawning tunnel at the edge of the universe.

Kopaka looked up at the Great Barrier and admired its majesty for a brief moment before focusing on the task at hand. His mission, as determined on Stelt, was to investigate possible routes out of the universe that Makuta now controlled. He had come to this abandoned stretch of the southern islands to try and evade even Makuta’s notice. No Exo-Toa patrolled here, and no Rahkshi flew in the skies above. Only ice, rock, and water dominated the area as far as the eye could see.

His mask had confirmed that a network of tunnels stretched through this section of the Great Barrier, some of which surely led outside the world of the Matoran. Now he could see the entrance to those tunnels yawning before him. Kopaka pulled a lightstone from his pack and let its feeble glow illuminate some of the tunnel’s vast gloom.

A glimmer of metal caught his eye, and he knelt down to find a scarred Kanohi Volitak on the tunnel floor. The sight was hardly encouraging, but he had come too far to turn back now. Kopaka placed the Volitak in his satchel, lifted the lightstone, and descended into the darkness.